Boundaries
by katakanadian
Summary: There are a thousand boundaries between personal staff and their bosses and the outside world which can be summed up in the word ‘professionalism’. Long years of service can result in a large gap between appearance and reality.


Fic: Boundaries

Rating: T (to be on the safe side)

Summary: Pre-movie. It takes time to learn the boundaries in a professional relationship.

Disclaimer: Marvel owns Iron Man. Yadda, yadda.

There are many kinds of boundaries. Some are written in stone. Some are constantly up for negotiation. Battles are fought over them. Sometimes they are enlarged or shrunk. Some are marked out as a challenge to be crossed. Some boundaries are respected even when not defended. Some boundaries need only the formality of asking permission before they are effectively ignored. Some are strengthened for the mutual benefit of both sides.

There are a thousand boundaries between personal staff and their bosses and the outside world which can be summed up in the word 'professionalism'. A good PA will eventually cross many boundaries that heighten the need for professionalism and make for best-selling butler-tells-all books.

Pepper is forewarned of all that working for Tony would entail but the first month isn't so bad. Every day she has to put up with smirks and double entendres but he never actually grabs her. Every week seems to add another non-business related task to her daily duties though and soon she starts to throw it back at him in sheer desperation because she doesn't have 48 hours in each day. He can pick out his own damn socks if he wants her to attend a meeting in his place.

It's close to six weeks before she sees him drunk. Ah, the honeymoon is over. She has to talk fast to cover a major gaffe he uttered at an opening and then bundle him out to the limo so Happy can take him home. She's not keen to cross into Happy's territory which she suspects includes playing nursemaid quite often. After that, Tony quits any pretense of drinking responsibly around her but at least it's not that often during her working hours. She sees the evidence of the parties she's missing and counts herself lucky.

After three months, she has no weekends left to speak of and Tony hardly notices the dark circles under her eyes until she takes a couple of sick days. He sends flowers and a spa treatment. He also stops coming into the office on Fridays so that somehow she manages to have most things taken care of by 6 or 7pm. The sanctity of the weekend is preserved, sort of.

The house in Malibu had been a real litmus test for several of Tony's previous PAs. Either they came and wound up in his bed or they didn't come and he decided they weren't really worth keeping around. When he breaks his leg in a car crash, Pepper spends more than half her working hours in his living room. She turns down the offer of her own guest room because she doesn't want to get sucked into working 24/7. Happy is literally playing nursemaid now and Pepper doesn't think she can resist smacking Tony if he asks for a sponge bath. It's still less than a year after she was hired and she doesn't feel her tenure is secure enough yet to risk that.

It's at the house that she finally sees the proof of the rest of the gossip. A parade of 'nurses' comes through night after night as she packs up to go home. Happy asks her to pick up the dry cleaning on the way in the morning and she admires the way he deftly steers Tony's playthings out the door. She's relieved when a real doctor puts Tony into a walking cast and he goes back to working in the main office on most days.

Unfortunately, like so many things, if she did something for him once, it became a given that it was within the bounds of her unwritten ever-expanding job description. Within two years she has moved to a different apartment that is closer to Malibu than to Stark Industries headquarters. She sees a hypnotherapist for a few sessions to deal with her fear of flying because she goes along on most of his trips now. She buys a few formal evening dresses for corporate appearances at galas and the like.

When Happy announces his engagement, Pepper is thrilled for him and pissed at him. She has noticed that Tony actually avoids making his married employees work overtime. They get to go home to their loved ones. Having no love life meant having no life at all except Tony and Stark Industries. Pepper knows that she will wind up being the nursemaid.

As expected Tony gets completely ripped at the wedding reception despite many entreaties to take it easy on the booze. He gets a little maudlin in comparing Hogan and his bride to Tony's own parents and closes with a real downer about how loving families can be shattered by an accident at any time. Pepper herds him back home before he can do any more damage and sends him off to bed. She explodes when he winks and asks why she doesn't stay to undress him. After five years on the job, she _is_ sure of her tenure and she draws the line. She may be amused by the sexual banter at the office where it is harmless but she will _not_ put up with it in his house and she refuses to see him naked unless it's a matter of life and death. He looks hurt and heads for the stairs without another word. She mentally kicks herself during the whole drive home because she realizes that she probably didn't need to state it so blatantly.

Things are a little strained at work the next day. Pepper avoids looking at Tony any more than necessary and she doesn't smile at his tamer-than-usual jokes. They both go home unhappy. By Friday, things have not improved. When Pepper comes back from lunch she finds a bouquet of flowers on her desk and underneath is a handwritten note from Tony:

_Dear Pepper,_

_I'm sorry about behaving badly after Hogan's wedding. I was an ass. I know you are worried you'll be expected to take on more of his 'duties'. I will do my best to keep work at the house tolerably business-related because I need you to stick around and put up with me._

_ … over_

She flips the single sheet of paper and discovers it is a photocopy of Tony's bare butt signed with a flourish. A genuine smile breaks out on her face for the first time all week and when she notices Tony peeking out at her she bursts into full laughter.

;) :D

とりあえず おわり/That's all for now

Comments welcome.


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